1. As WSJ reported last week, Dewey’s bankruptcy team is set to meet Thursday with ex-partners to present a new “clawback” plan, the first one having drawn squawks of protest from many former Dewey partners (and their lawyers).

2. U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Martin Glenn said he was “inclined to grant approval” for most of a bonus plan to retain/motivate employees and a collections consultant helping to wind down the firm.

Some $450,000 would come from the budget of creditor cash collateral that is funding the bankruptcy.

The rest–up to $250,000–would come out of a percentage of unpaid client bills that the team collects.

But first, Judge Glenn wants to see some precise numbers on what various employees are paid and how much they would gain from the bonus plan. For example, the highest-paid Dewey staffer (alas, unnamed) eligible for the plan has an annual salary of $450,000 and could get up to $17,000, Dewey’s bankruptcy lawyers said.

3. And, for what it’s worth, as Dewey’s team tells it the firm’s creditors will probably continue to funding the next phase of the bankruptcy (the current budget runs through July). Although a lawyer for the unsecured creditors hastened to tell Judge Glenn that his clients have not seen the revised “clawback” plan, and that there is not agreement on cash collateral at this time. So we’ll see….

Curious to know how much it costs to shut down a big, super-indebted law firm?

Then this, gentle LB reader, is your summer, as the failed New York law firm Dewey & LeBoeuf LLP makes its pilgrimage through bankruptcy.

For instance, the June bill for services provided by Zolfo Cooper LLC, the restructuring firm helping to liquidate the Dewey estate, was $872,700.

What does that buy? More than 1,500 hours of work by professionals charging hourly rates of up to $825 an hour. Those could increase, according to a separate court filing that said some Zolfo rates had risen in July as a result of “individual professional promotions”–the upper range charged by managing directors is now $860 an hour.

Also pricey: conference calls. Two calls last month to walk 700 or so ex-partners through a proposed “clawback” settlement cost $13,172.88, according to the filings.

A brief recap, for LBers who have not been rubbernecking Dewey’s descent:

Once 1,300-lawyers strong, Dewey sought Chap. 11 protection on May 28 after a rocky six months marked by partner defections amid disputes over compensation. Since then, the estate has since been laboring to collect unpaid client bills and investigating third-party claims against former partners (an initial trial balloon is now being retooled after objections from ex-partners) and their new law firms in an effort to pay off an estimated $315 million Dewey owes to creditors.

The docket has yielded some mighty instructive reading, shedding light on Dewey’s path to insolvency and who stands to gain from the liquidation process.

Other court filings in the last week showed that Stephen Horvath, one of the two remaining Dewey partners helping to turn out the lights, has been paid $190,000 since the firm entered bankruptcy protection.

Dewey’s estate also collected more than $19 million in fees in June (out of an estimated $217 million in accounts receivable). But it spent nearly $6 million on salaries, rent and other expenses, according to the monthly operating report.

Zolfo Cooper and Mr. Horvath did not respond to a request for comment.

From creditors to the army of professionals guiding the estate, everybody, it seems, is looking to wring some value from Dewey’s carcass. That process has produced occasional fireworks inside U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Martin Glenn’s courtroom in lower Manhattan, where another hearing is set to take place Wednesday afternoon.

The point of contention on today’s agenda: whether to award up to $700,000 in incentives to Dewey staffers and consultants who are collecting money the firm is owed. The Justice Department’s watchdog on the Dewey case questions the need, while the estate said in a filing earlier this week that “the Debtor’s need to stem further employee attrition is greater now than ever.”

And need we remind you that the clock is ticking? As of now, Dewey’s estate only has approval to fund the bankruptcy process (using cash collateral from the firm’s secured creditors) through the end of the month.